Home Again

I've actually been back in Minnesota now for a while but have been too busy to write anything.

There's always a flurry of activity getting groceries, remembering where things are and settling in.  

Since the cat tent had a hole chewed through the corner (either by Gracie or some rodent), it was time to replace it.  However, it seems they don't make them any more.  So we went to plan B.  We found a nice dog cat kennel at Menards and set it up.  Then I secured some plastic shelving with cable ties to provide a variety of heights to enjoy.  Finally a confinement where I don't worry about them escaping.  Added bonus:  another place to plant vines!

The next project was to redo the cat cage that they access from the window.  Once that was done and up on cement blocks I washed it out good and it was ready to go.

And then it was time to get busy with the garden! 

This has been where the bulk of  my time has gone since my return.  I wanted to amend the soil and create a small berm so the first thing was to get some good black dirt.  We did this by purchasing ten 40 lb bags of top soil from the local nursery.  Left Brain helped me by picking them up in the golf cart and placing the bags around the yard for me to apply.

Then I put down 15 bags of bark mulch to protect the new plants I'd purchased and spruce up the appearance.  I can't go into any kind of garden center without bringing back a few plants to plant.  I was thrilled to find some dwarf goats beard and an astaboides tabularis.

dwarf goats beard

my new baby astaboides tabularis

This is what a full grown one looks like.  I had it in my garden in Wisconsin.

Much of the garden art and trellises needed a fresh coat of paint so out came my drop cloth and spray paint.  Things sure dried faster in Arizona.  The air is very humid here and alive with mosquitoes.

After those were in place I decided I wanted to add some rocks to the main area of the garden for visual interest. So the next morning it was off to my favorite spot for rocks 25 miles away. They have a huge pile of small boulders that you collect and put into a plastic tub as a sort of measurement.   I love being able to pick out my favorites as well as crawling around the rock pile. Then you pick them all up a second time to put into the car.

It's not much, but makes it a little more interesting.

On the way home I stopped at another garden center and found a couple of new hostas and several other plants that called out to me.  One was the Komodo Dragon, a hosta that has the potential to get huge.  I couldn't find the Empress Wu that I wanted. Then I realized there was yet another garden center nearby so I headed over there as well.

My last stop was at Lowe's on the way home to pick up 15 concrete patio pavers to make a path to the new kennel and one through the archway into our yard.  I had to move many of the rocks ...again...to create space for them in the back of the van. Okay, these are getting heavy now.

I grabbed McDonalds on the way home so I could be done with lunch and get right to work in the yard.  I unloaded the rocks first.  You get to handle these puppies multiple times before you're done.  I arranged them into groups according to size and started creating my "rock garden" area.  I incorporated the new plants into this space and rearranged the bark mulch over them.

That was fun, but now it was time to sink the patio blocks into the ground.  This is not so much fun as there are tree roots everywhere and to accomplish this I needed a serrated knife, shovel, trowel and pruners.  At least I didn't need the ax this time.

Finally all of them were in place and I had two extra to put inside the kennel as Gracie likes to roll on concrete.  It's all about the cats happiness.

By now I'm running out of steam.  I'd been on the go since 9:00 am and it's now about 3:00 pm.  My Fit-bit happily buzzed to let me know I'd reached my 10,000 steps a while back.  But there was still a couple things to do.

I had to water in the new plants and clean up the pavers, gather all the trash and put the sod I'd dug out in the back of the golf cart to be taken to the compost area.  I wasn't having fun any more, now it's become work, but I can't stand to leave the yard a mess.  The house yes...but not the garden.

Finally I was ready to peel off the filthy jeans and shirt and take a shower to scrub off the dirt.  In Wisconsin I would just done this on my back steps as we lived out in the boonies.  Here a little more decorum is required. As we sat down to watch the news I let Left Brain know there was no supper tonight, I was too tired to eat.  Maybe if I kept doing this every day I'd lose the weight I'd like to shed.

Long Live the Queen